


Facets

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Body Horror, M/M, Nightmare Dork University (Fanverse), Nightmare Galleon, Stagefright - Freeform, just a touch of cosmic horror, no official relationship tags because NDU is not set up for that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:06:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26917084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Pitch, Pitchiner, Proto, Piki, and Jack Sickle are all objects of fascination to vast beings from beyond the ordinary world that are uncannily parallel to themselves. This means that their college years are filled with strange and eerie occurrences. Here are a few of them.
Kudos: 1





	1. A Carousell for Pitch

**Author's Note:**

> All these drabbles were written for the NDU Autumn Carnival Event on Tumblr.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 1: Carousell

Onyx-studded bridle. Smooth and jetty coat (of paint). Too absurd to be a temptation or a terror. And yet. It is perfect as memory would have such horses, as out of place as himself in his family’s house.

An object, a prop: if so, what role is he playing?

If Chekov’s rule applies, should he ransack the attic for his riding helmet? Sift through the change jar for bitter-smelling brass?

Of course he shouldn’t. A kelpie is a kelpie.

But how it shines at the edges of the orange glow of streetlights! How it shines!

Ah, except for the eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Impossible to respond to being stalked by a carousel horse; there's no framework for it; it's nonsense. And yet.


	2. Proto-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 2: Caterpillar

Ten days, and the door remains un-knocked, the lock untried. Perhaps he has made a miscalculation. The false face he presented, the bright warning colors in which he covered himself, the doubtful, acrid smells of the food he ate: these offered no defense.

And, true, the others have no reason to suspect anything amiss. He kept odd hours, and what keeps him now (so curiously like himself) keeps him in silence. Despite the dissolution he cannot name illusion, there neither is nor will be any smell of his death.

He will emerge from his room alive.

Very, very much alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Proto's name is much more ominous as a prefix.


	3. Hard to Get

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: Steeplechase

Piki can see the lighted tower on the roof of Jack’s dorm; he can’t be lost. The imbecile curves of the campus sidewalks won’t deter him, and if he loses dignity going the most direct route, well, who can see him in the gloaming?

A low, decorative brick wall, oddly cool for the date.

A metal fence that pulls at the skin of his hands.

A hedge, oddly tall and untidy for the university—how can a densely green plant feel so cold?

He doesn’t recall this fountain. And someone’s let it freeze.

But surely it can’t be very deep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sure you want to catch what you're chasing?


	4. Alice Says Good Luck

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 4: Wonder Wheel

The architecture of his body towers in the bathroom mirror, but only as he’s used to: he has to bend to look at his hair. Still, he thinks he’s seen himself otherwise, of an even rarer height. He stares, not vain, flexing and turning one arm and the other, trying to catch the trick of it in the welds of his muscles and bones.

Scrutiny fails: blink, slip!

Wide eye, larger than a motorcycle tire.

Blink, slip!

Couldn’t be.

Blink, slip!

Clawed hand, only the hand, (his hand) cramped in the bathroom, can’t be.

Yet he’s curious about the rest.


	5. A Cyclone for Jack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 5: Cyclone

Wheeling slow and white: what is it? It’s bigger than it looks and colder than it feels, so say Jack’s hands.

But he can hold it.

It’s older than the vast vortices at the poles, but its currents shift against his fingers with _his_ breath.

He hasn’t always had it. A gift? A find? He’s not that curious for these answers, now he has it.

Breathe in. Out. Hear it howl, though no one else can, yet.

He could wear it like a crown. He could cry at last.

Everyone would hear, then.

And maybe after that, he would laugh.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tip for you all: always question being given control over a weather phenomenon.


	6. Led Out of the Void Expanse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 6: Parachute Jump

Entering the empty darkness had been Pitch’s choice. Yes, only his. Vindication in void, not one of two but one of one. How could he refuse when he knew he would rise? He marks the motion in blankest blackness. And despite the dim deserted no-place, he assures himself of an eventual apex. Room for one.

Is that where he is to stay?

He’ll never be beyond asking. Something hates him for it; not quite himself.

_Don’t stay, then. Fall._

Fine! But how can it be? And he remembers:

Pitchiner, following, relentless.

And now he can see a parachute taking shape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soppy hint: look at the capitalized words of the title.


	7. A Little Orange in the Black

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 7: Spook-a-Rama

Every touch is paired.

What the bonds brought the boys, they know too well. Myriad madnesses, a paranoid perspective that showed the whole world as fragile as amateur papier-mâché. Innocence lost.

But! That innocence was neither dissipated nor destroyed. It was _incorporated_ , and there was just so _much_.

Enough for the others to become a little more playful, a little more curious, a little less ambitious. Enough for them to understand fun without malice.

And the boys _did_ live, and the papier-mâché set can be used for at least one more time around.

And that’s enough

For a jack-o’-lantern smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When you look into an abyss yadda yadda yadda


End file.
